FULTON, NY – Fulton City School District’s preliminary draft of the 2018-2019 school year budget considers the possibility for six positions to be cut within the district.
Faced with an estimated $2 million shortfall in revenues before the use of reserves, the district is continuing to be “creative” and “extensive” in approaching the gap, Superintendent Brian Pulvino said, however, the potential for layoffs is still possible.
The current 2018-2019 budget draft of $72,072,850 brings a 1.8 percent increase in spending from the 2017-2018 budget.
Without use of reserves and with the current tax levy base, the district faces a gap of just over $2 million between expenditures and revenue.
A “very preliminary” draft incorporating the use of $800,000 from Assigned Fund Balance, $200,000 from Reserves and estimating a $408,355 tax levy, using the maximum permissible increase of 2.02 percent, shows a $601,000 deficit.
To remedy this shortfall, the district is considering making a $60,000 cut from transportation, a $37,500 cut from summer cleaning, and a $560,000 cut from instructional expenditures by eliminating seven full time positions.
Despite 11 total retirements and resignations throughout the district, eight of those positions need to be filled and two new positions need to be created for full time secondary special education teachers in order to meet student needs, allowing one vacant position to remain unfilled.
Given these circumstances, six currently staffed full-time positions could potentially be on the chopping block.
“Of course our goal is that we don’t want to see anyone lose their jobs. We are trying to be creative about a couple different things but for the first time, this may mean there may be some positions lost,” Pulvino said.
The positions would be targeted predominantly at the secondary level based on district enrollment trends and student needs, Pulvino told Oswego County Today.
District officials have began conversations with potentially affected staff considering it is “fair to be aware” any time layoffs may be considered a possibility, Pulvino said.
“A lot of things go on in the coming months. We are constantly considering any new information and variables throughout the process. We are very aware of the impacts of reductions and always want to minimize the amount of people lost in positions when not through a retirement or resignation,” he added.
Another possibility being considered is the tax cap levy with the latest draft using the maximum permissible increase of 2.02 percent. This figure is merely the allowable increase based on the mandated formula, Pulvino said.
A -1.74 percent tax levy last year provided a decrease to taxpayers but left the district with $357,143 less in tax revenue.
“We recognize the fact that our community is challenged and we recognize that we have to be fiscally responsible,” Pulvino said, noting the district’s history of typically enacting a smaller tax percentage than is allowable.
“The board will guide us in where they want to set the tax cap and we will work within those parameters. We work together to establish a tax cap that best supports our students and also considers our community’s economic standing,” Pulvino said.
Estimated state aid projected in the executive run of the NYS Budget gives Fulton $47,637,565 in revenue.
Pending an on-time state budget passed by April 1, Pulvino and district officials are hopeful more state aid than anticipated will be granted to the district. Board president David Cordone and Superintendent Pulvino shared their budget concerns with state legislators earlier this week.
Ultimately, Pulvino considers the current state of the budget to be consistent with where the district was at this time last year.
“At this time last year we had a similar gap and we demonstrated possible ways to reduce our expenditures. In this process, we are at about the same spot with the difference being that we don’t have the unfilled retirements and resignations we had last year to produce those reductions,” he said.
While awaiting the final state aid numbers, Pulvino said district officials will present current budget information to site based leadership teams and other forums to garner feedback while continuing exploration of ways to increase return on investment.
The next budget draft update will take place at the regular board of education meeting on Tuesday, March 27.
“We are focused on becoming more efficient and fiscally focused. I look forward to working with the board and the public to set the best budget we can for our students in the 2018-2019 school year,” Pulvino said.
District officials have until a tentative date of April 10 to make modifications to the budget at which time a final budget resolution intends to be presented to the board of education.
The approved budget will be presented to qualified voters of the district on Tuesday, May 15. Polls will be open from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. at the Fulton War Memorial located at 609 West Broadway.
A public hearing of the final budget will precede the vote on Wednesday, May 2 at 7 p.m. in the Fulton Education Center.
In addition to the budget, voters will have the opportunity to elect three members to the FCSD Board of Education.
Two expiring seats will serve three-year terms commencing July 1, 2018 and expiring June 30, 2021. One seat will carry a one-year term commencing July 1, 2018 and expiring June 30, 2019.
Petitions nominating candidates for a seat on the board of education are currently available at the office of the Superintendent located within the Education Center.
Completed petitions must be returned to the district clerk no later than April 25, 2018.
Voters will see two propositions with relevance to the Fulton Public Library. One of which will authorize an operating budget of $413,669 for the library over the course of the 2018-2019 year. The other will elect two members to the library board of trustees.
A vehicle transportation proposition will allow voters to determine whether a Bond Resolution adopted by the Board of Education authorizing the purchase of two passenger vans for school transportation at a price no greater than $49,900 will be authorized.
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Out of a $72M budget, they’ve come down to $560K to be cut from staffing. I’ll bet that there are plenty of other expenses that could be cut but are deemed “essential” or at least protected. Perhaps all staffing should be re-examined, but they should probably start at the beginning to cut everything that’s not necessary to provide a quality education.
I know a few teachers who refuse to reply to parent requests to meet about their kids that deserve to be let go. They also display openly their attitude they are too good for the parents of the district. Let’s start laying off/ eliminating some there and then start cutting taxes and close a building or two. We don’t need a building with mostly only 2 sections per gradelevel.
For a district that’s lived HIGH off the hog for the last 3 decade- it’s about time they start trimming the fat off the steak! The school population these days is that of an A school now, not a AA school anymore. So realize that you cant have all these extra classes, admin, programs, teams, coaches, and specialized items that you did when the nuke plant nursed your fat/ bloated budget… If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!And your failing the taxpayers and they ve have ENOUGH! Dont even ask for turf when you didnt have a football team a year ago- when you prove you can “do something with nothing”, maybe we will vote for extras- prove it first!